Van den Broeck wins in France

2011-06-06 18:42

Saint-Pierre-de-Chatreuse - Belgian Juergen van den Broeck timed his effort to perfection to win the first stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Monday.

The Omega Pharma-Lotto rider, who finished last year's Tour de France in fifth place overall, attacked with less than five kms to go to beat Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez of the Katusha team after 144km from Albertville.

Australian Cadel Evans finished third for the BMC team.

Kazah Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) claimed the overall lead while several Tour de France hopefuls, who use the Dauphine as a preparation for next month's race, were unable to follow the pace in the final 10km ascent to St Pierre de Chartreuse.

Van den Broeck broke away to catch Thomas Voeckler midway through the climb and did not even look back when he went past the French champion.